Automatic feeder.



No. 877,538. PATENTED JAN. 28, 1908.

I 0. B. WILLIAMS.

AUTOMATIC FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8, 1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

[/VVENYOR (7. .5. TV/ll/ama Al/omey No. 877,538. PATENTED JAN. 28, 1908.0. B. WILLIAMS.

AUTOMATIC FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8, 1907.

' s SHEETS-SHEET 2.

8d? 642 WITNESSES 6 0. B. mvjligval igrgc No. 877,538. PATENTED JAN-28,1908.

G. B. WILLIAMS.

AUTOMATIC FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. s, 1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

0.5. B W/00m CHARLES BYRON WILLIAMS, OF ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATIC FEEDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 28, 1908.

' Application filedLMarch 8, 1907. Serial No. 361,275.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES BYRON WIL- LIAMS, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Ontario, in the county of San Bernardino and Stateof California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAutomatic Feeders; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements more particularly tothat class adapted to be used for feeding grain or the like to poultryand my object is to provide means to automatically release food from thereceptacle.

A further object is to provide means for scattering the food at adistance around the feeder.

A still further object is to provide means for regulating the flow ofthe food products from the feeder.

A still further object is to provide suitable bearings for parts of thefeeder so that the same may be readily rotated.

Other objects and advantages will be here inafter referred to and moreparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings which are made a part of this application,Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved feeder complete. Fig. 2 isa detail sectional view of the upper end of the feeder on an enlargedscale. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view as seen on line 33 Fig. 2.Fig. 4 is a similar view as seen on line 44 Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detailelevation partly in section of the lower end of the feeder. Fig. 6 is adetail sectional view as seen on line 66 Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a sideelevation of an improved form of socket employed for holding parts of myimproved device together. Fig. 8 is a detail perspective view of a perchemployed at the lower end of the feeder. Fig. 9 is a detail sectionalview as seen on line 9-9 Fig. 4, and, Fig. 10 is a detail sectional viewas seen on line 10-10 Fig. 9.

Referring to the drawings in which similar reference numerals designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views, 1 indicates the bodyof my improved feeder which is adapted to retain the food and isprovided at its upper end with a cover 2, while the bottom 3 is providedat its central portion with an opening 4:, through which the coninautomatic feeders and tents of the body is adapted to pass. posed at adistance from the lower end of the body 1 is a platform 5 which ispreferably octagonal ingeneral outline and has secured to the edgesthereof sockets 6 in which are seated standards 7, said standardsextending upwardly from the platform and into the body 1, said bodyhaving sockets 8 in each corner thereof into which the upper ends of thestandards are adapted to enter and by which means the body is secured tothe platform.

The central portion of the platform 5 is provided with an opening 9, theupper end of which is closed by means of a plate 10, and rotatablymounted at the central portion of the plate is a shaft 11 the upper endof which extends through the opening 4 and finds a bearing in a beam 12,extending across the interior of the body 1 and in order to hold theupper end of the shaft into engagement with the beam, a nut 13 isdirected onto the shaft 11, which is adapted to rest upon the plate 10to form a support for the shaft.

Adjustably mounted upon theshaft 11 is a substantially conical head 14.which is interiorly threaded to engage threads upon the shaft 11, saidhead being designed to move towards or from the opening 4 so that theflow of the contents from the body 1 will be accordingly decreased orincreased. The head 141 is also circular in horizontal section so thatthe contents of the body will be distributed uniformly around the headand in order to carry the food at a distance from the base of thefeeder, I have provided radiating arms 15 which are provided attheirinner ends with ears 16 which are adapted to engage trunnions 17 carriedby clips 18, said clips being directed around one portion of thestandards 7 and fixed thereto by means of plates 19, said platesextending around the opposite portion of the standards 7 and are securedthereto in any preferred manner as by solder, the clips and plates beingsubstantially \I-shaped so that when they are placed in position uponthe standards they will entirely surround the same and the trunnions 17of the clips 18 will extend through openings in the plates 19.

The clips 18 are disposed a distance above the platform 5 so that whenthe arms are secured to the trunnions and lowered into engagement withthe edge of the platform, said arms will be inclined so that the fooddeposited thereon by the head 14 will travel Disoutwardl on'the arms andbe deposited at a distance rom the head.

In order to positively rotate the head 14 and cause the food to descendfrom the body 1, I extend the shaft ll through the plate 10 and into theopening9, said extended end being flattened by cutting away portions ofthe shaft at diametrically opposite points there- 'by forming a tenon 20which is adapted to extend through an angular slot in a plate 21 andinto a bore 22 in the upper end of a supporting shaft 23.

The lower end of the shaft 23 is entered into a socket 24 which ispreferably formed in two sections and secured together in any preferredmanner as'by rivets 25, said rivets extending through wings 26 formed onthe sections of the socket so that when the wings of each section arealined with each other and secured together a complete circular socketis formed.-

Each section of the socket is formed from one continuous section ofmaterial and the wings 26 are made longer than the part form- 'ing thesocket and are adapted to extend through channels 27 formed in a perch28, the channels 27 extending entirely through the perch and the wings26 being of sufficient length to extend below the perch and are bentoutwardly to form flanges 29 which ex tend into engagement with thelower surface of the perch thereby preventing a casual removal of thewings from the channels.

After the flanges 29 are properly placed, I

' secure over the same a curved plate 30, said plate being secured tothe lower surface of the perch in any preferred manner as by brads 31and when the plate is so disposed over the flanges the perch willbepositively held into engagement with the wings.

The descent of the food from the body 1 depends upon the rotation of thehead 14 and in order to rotate the head 14, I have provided the perch 28and so balance the several parts of the feeder that when a fowl alightsupon the perch the perch will be moved sufficiently to cause a quantityof the food to flow from the body 1 and be scattered over the groundadjacent to the feeder and in order to cause the head to be rotated fromthe slightest movement of the perch 28 I provide a base 32 which isadapted to rest upon the earths surface and secured to the centralportion of the base is a pedestal 33, to the upper end of which issecured a pivot pin 34 which is directed through an opening in thecurved plate 31 and entered into a bore 35 in the lower end of the shaft23, the connection between the shaft 23 and the pivot pin 34 being sosensitive that the slightest movement upon the perch 28 will result inpartially rotating the head 14 so that a quantity of the food will bedirected onto the arms 15 and deposited therefrom onto the earthssurface.

The feeder is retained in a vertical position in any preferred mannerand in the accompanying drawing, I have shown a frame 36 which isadapted to be secured at one end to a building or other suitable objectwhile the opposite end thereof is directed into engagement with the body1 and secured thereto so that said body will be held concentric over thepivot pin 34,

For convenience in assembling the several parts of the feeder Ipreferably form the shaft 23 in two sections and secure the sametogether by means of a tubular coupling 37, said coupling being fixedlysecured to the lower section while the upper section of the shaftextends into the coupling. 7

The arms 15 are so hinged to the trunnions 17 that said arms may befolded upwardly and rest against the outer Walls of the body 1 so thatthe feeder will occupy but a small space when not in use. It willfurther be seen that by folding the arms as described that the egress ofthe food from the head 14 will be practically eliminated therebypreventing the successful operation of the feeder until the arms areagain lowered and in order the opening 4 until such time as the head 14is rotated 1 place upon the apex of the head form 38 which is greater indiameter than the diameter of the opening 4 so that the food descendingthrough the opening will lodge upon the platform and gradually fill theopening thereby stopping the flow of the foon until such time as thehead 14 is rotated, this operation agitating the food upon the circularplatform so that the same will descend upon the head and be depositedupon the arms 15.

It will now be seen that I have provided a cheap and economical devicefor distributing food for fowls so that the fowls will be required tohunt for the same by scratching, thereby giving them exercise and itwillfurther be seen that the feeder will be automatically operated by thefowls jumping off and on the perch 28.

It will-further be seen that I have provided chea and economical meansfor regulating the iow of the food from the body of the feeder and alsofor distributing the food around the feeder inuniformity.

What I claim is:

1. In a feeder of the class described, the combination with a body, aplatform below said body and means to connect said platform with thebody; of a head rotatably mounted between said platform and body, meansto convey food at a distance from said feeder, a support for said bodyand platform and a perch adjacent the lower end of said support uponwhich a fowl may alight whereby said head may be rotated.

2. In a feeder of the class described the combination wi th a body aplatform below to prevent a continuous flow of the food from andsurrounding the shaft 11, a circular platsaid body and standardssecuring said pl atform to the body; of a conical head between saidplatform and body, a shaft for said head, means to adjustably mount saidhead upon the shaft, bearings at opposite ends of said shaft, asupporting shaftbelow said plat-i in the bottom portion thereof, a beamin the body, a platform below said body and means to secure saidplatform to the body; of a conical head between said platform and body,a shaft for said head, means to adjust said head upon the shaft, armspivotally secured above said platform and adapted to rest thereon, asupporting standard for said body and platform, means to fix saidstandard to said shaft, a pedestal below said shaft and means torotatably mount said shaft upon the pedestal.

4. In a feeder of the class described the combination with a body and aplatform secured thereto; of a distributing head, means to rotatablymount said head between said platform and body, a pedestal below saidbody, a supporting shaft rotatably mounted on said pedestal and a perchat the lower end of said shaft.

5. In a feeder of the class described the combination with a body and aplatform secured to said body; of a head between said platform and body,means to support said head, a shaft secured to said supporting means, asocket at the lower end of said shaft, a perch secured to said socket, apedestal below said shaft and a pivot pin on said pedestal forming abearing for the lower end of said. shaft whereby the supporting shaftand head may be rotated.

6. In a'feeder of the class described the combination with a body, aplatform below said body and standards to secure said platform to thebody; of arms pivotally secured to said standards and adapted to restupon the platform when in their lowered position, a head between saidplatform and body adapted to direct the contents of the body on to saidarms, a shaft for said head and means engaging said shaft to rotate saidhead.

7. In a feeder of the class described the combination with a body; of asupporting shaft for said body, a pedestal for said supporting shaft, apivot pin connecting said shaft and pedestal, a perch for saidsupporting shaft, having channels therein and means to secure said perchto the supporting shaft comprising a socket formed in two sections,wings on said socket, means to secure said wings together, said wingsbeing adapted to enter the channels in the perch and be secured thereto.

8. In a feeder of the class described the combination with a body andmeans to support the same; of a platform below said body, standardssecured to said platform sockets in said bodyadapted to receive theupper ends of said standards, and a head between said platform and body,said head being adapted to be rotated whereby the contents of the bodywill be distributed equally around said body.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES BYRON WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

J. E. MoOoMAs, Mrs. (J. B. WILLIAMS.

